North American Nebula (NGC 7000) in Bi-Colour

[Xiga]

Hey-ho

So then, just as i thought the DSO season was well and truly over for me until late August/early September, as it turned out last Saturday night (May 5th) was mostly clear, so i set about trying to finish the NAN image i had captured in Ha a while back (see thread below):

So all i needed was some OIII. It's obviously not the ideal time of year to capture this i know, as it's so low on the horizon, but beggar's can't be choosers so i tried my best to make the most of the small amount of astro dark time available and just make the best of it.

In the end i managed 9 subs, two of which were sub-standard due to passing clouds, but as is my want these days i still asked APP to stack them (using the Quality setting) and it didn't seem to affect things. So in total this is:

Ha: 7 x 480s, 6 x 1200, 13 x 1200 (a little over 7 Hrs)

OIII: 9 x 1200s (3 Hrs)

RGB (with IDAS-D1 filter): 20 x 60s

The usual Flats & Bias, stacked in APP and processed in PS. 

Gear used: Nikon D5300 (modded); SW 80ED (510mm FL); HEQ5-Pro; SGPro and PHD2. 

The RGB subs were used solely for the stars. I still need to get better at merging them with the NB channels, i'm not as good as i'd like to be at controlling them. Although in this instance, i did mask the stretching of them, and it definitely helped, but i need to practice this to get better at it. I think the fact that the RGB stack (even at just 20 mins) contained some nebulosity didn't help things. When it's just stars and nothing else, it's so much simpler to combine them.

So this is just a Version 1 for now (i'll try an sSHO next). I used Ha for Red, OIII for Blue, and used one of Carboni's Actions to synthesize the Green channel. Then went round and round in circles trying to find a colour balance to my liking (on my rubbish monitor!) so i'd love to hear what you guys think. Too dark? Too much saturation? (i tend to do that, lol). I also couldn't decide on orientation, so have included two different ones. Which do you guys prefer?

All C&C welcome. Don't hold back! I'm always looking for ways to improve. 

Clear skies!

[Allinthehead]

Wonderful. I really like the gold and blue hues.

[Eastman]

Magical picture, I really like that colours.

[Xiga]

1 hour ago, Allinthehead said:

Wonderful. I really like the gold and blue hues.

 

1 hour ago, Eastman said:

Magical picture, I really like that colours.

Thanks Richard and Gert. The NAN is one of my favourite DSO's, there's just so much going on in it! Hence it was the one of the 1st ones i tried to get with the newly-modded D5300 and NB filters. It only took 7 months to get to the finishing line, lol. 

ps - I'm a total sucker for the Hubble-esque Golds and Blues i have to say. I find it a bit odd though that i ended up in this place, having gone with the Synthesised Green method. I will have another go at some point, with a Synthesized SII method. Will be interesting to see how that turns out. 

[tooth_dr]

So the NAN is reallly blue! Thought my processing was totally awry!

Stunning picture Ciaran! Lovely tones to the blue, and super shadows in the gold!

 

[tooth_dr]

8 hours ago, Xiga said:

 

Thanks Richard and Gert. The NAN is one of my favourite DSO's, there's just so much going on in it! Hence it was the one of the 1st ones i tried to get with the newly-modded D5300 and NB filters. It only took 7 months to get to the finishing line, lol. 

ps - I'm a total sucker for the Hubble-esque Golds and Blues i have to say. I find it a bit odd though that i ended up in this place, having gone with the Synthesised Green method. I will have another go at some point, with a Synthesized SII method. Will be interesting to see how that turns out. 

I’ll be interested to see what you do, how you do it, and the difference it makes!

[Barry-Wilson]

Very good images indeed Ciaran. Lovely smooth processing, especially of the dark moelcular dust.  Well done.

[carastro]

I love this, not over processed, and lovely choice of colours. 

Carole 

[Xiga]

On ‎12‎/‎05‎/‎2018 at 08:28, Barry-Wilson said:

Very good images indeed Ciaran. Lovely smooth processing, especially of the dark moelcular dust.  Well done.

 

On ‎12‎/‎05‎/‎2018 at 08:50, carastro said:

I love this, not over processed, and lovely choice of colours. 

Carole 

Thank you Barry & Carole.

I really enjoyed processing this one (well, after I created the starless Ha image at least. I spent longer than I care to remember on that part!)

[Xiga]

On ‎12‎/‎05‎/‎2018 at 08:16, tooth_dr said:

So the NAN is reallly blue! Thought my processing was totally awry!

Stunning picture Ciaran! Lovely tones to the blue, and super shadows in the gold!

 

Lol. In all likelihood nothing wrong with your processing at all Adam. I have to hold my hand up and take full responsibility for the colours on show here.

Right up to the end of the workflow the colours were actually much redder and magenta in places. I then decided to add quite a bit of Cyan to the Neutrals using Selective Colour, and it totally transformed the whole colour tone. I quite liked it though so I decided to keep it

[ollypenrice]

This is an admirable image with a delicate touch. The brightness range is controlled to perfection.

Not being a false colour imager I don't understand what you mean about RGB stars here. You're not going to mix a natural colour palette with a false colour one, I guess? Is the idea to produe a halo-free star layer?

Anyway, a fine result.

Olly

[Xiga]

Thanks Olly! ? 

The idea is to have a short stack taken with the IDAS filter, remove the stars from it and add them to the starless false colour image. Just to add some colour to the stars instead of having them be simply white. Plus there's the added bonus that they are smaller and tighter than the Ha ones. So yeah, I am mixing and matching colour schemes  - or just filters, as I tell myself ?

[gorann]

Yes, this is a very nice, dramatic and still subtle image. I like it a lot and I can see why you use RGB for the stars - I am no fan of the pure white ones of many NB images.

[Xiga]

Thanks Gorann ?

I was struggling a bit with it, but then thankfully it all seemed to come together near the end of the workflow. 

I really like having the stars separated out into their own layer. It's hard to keep them looking natural though (and I don't think I'm particularly good at that tbh) but i find it make processing the rest of the image so much easier.